Raptors hold off charging Bucks 105-99
MILWAUKEE -- Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 27 points and almost single-handedly led the Milwaukee Bucks back in the closing minutes, but DeMar DeRozan's 25 points helped the Toronto Raptors to a 105-99 victory on Saturday night at the Bradley Center.
DeRozan hit 9 of 18 shots from the field, including a contested 16-footer with 16 seconds left that pulled Milwaukee within four. He also grabbed seven rebounds and finished with four assists.
Toronto got 19 points from Kyle Lowry and 14 from Demarre Carroll while shooting 47.5 percent from the floor and hitting 14 of 31 3-pointers.
The Raptors' biggest advantage came at the free throw line, where they were 13 of 17 and the Bucks were 7 of 12.
Coming off his first triple-double of the season, Antetokounmpo came close to another, finishing six rebounds and 11 assists. Tony Snell hit four 3-pointers to finish with 16 points, Jabari Parker added 14 and Matthew Dellavedova scored 11 for the Bucks, who shot 50.6 percent from the field and were 12 of 29 from distance.
Up five at the break behind nine points from Carroll, the Raptors extended their lead with a 6-0 run early in the third quarter and went up 10 on DeRozan's jumper with 2:20 left in the quarter.
Toronto's lead dwindled to one possession early in the fourth quarter, but Michael Beasley's running jumper with 9:56 left was short and the Raptors went up seven on five straight points from Ross.
Antetokounmpo twice got Milwaukee within a point in the final two minutes. Lowry buried a 3-pointer from the top of the key to give Toronto a 99-95 lead with 1:06 remaining.
The Raptors have won two in a row and the Bucks have dropped six of their last eight and four of their last five games.
NOTES: Raptors G DeMar DeRozan began the day third in the NBA in scoring at 30.5 points per game and dished out four or more assists in each of his last seven games, marking the second-longest such streak of his career. ... Bucks G Tony Snell began the day with career-high averages in scoring (8.5 points per game), rebounds (4.0) and assists (1.3). ... Milwaukee recalled G Rashad Vaughn earlier this week from Westchester of the D-League, where he appeared in two games and averaged 11.5 points and 4.0 rebounds in 15.9 minutes. He appeared in nine games for Milwaukee before being sent down last weekend and averaged 6.0 points on 40.4 percent shooting. ... The Raptors swept the season series 4-0 a year ago and won 10 of their last 11 meetings with the Bucks, including five in a row in Milwaukee.